Paying the Bills

Friday, December 5, 2008

I love Apple and everything mac. For me, they usually can do no wrong. They have done things in the past I have not agreed with but they have always had clear reasoning behind it, even if that reasoning made me grind my teeth. Take Flash on the iPhone for example, or better yet the lack thereof. This seems an idiotic crusade on behalf on Jobs and company but at least they have purpose, and coming in 2009, this crusade may well benefit the entire net-accessing mobile device industry.

So, while you will rarely hear me complain about products and services provided by the venerable Mac maker, they finally did something that's got me scratching my head. So, to remain impartial, I'm gonna have to call you on this one Steve.

Apple on Tuesday started taking orders for the Apple Earphones and In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic. These new offerings from Apple are not unlike other ear pieces that connect via wire to a mobile phone to take calls hands free. The only problem is they are not supported on the iPhone. That's right, they only work with iPods. As the devices are new there is still debate about whether the devices will actually work with the iPhone sans stated compatibility. However, officially the iPhone is not supported.

Why the mic then? The answer is that new iPods introduced in September of this year support audio recording through the 4th connector of the headphone jack, just like the iPhone. In spite of this fact, the iPhone is still not officially supported. In the coming days or months I suspect that an update for the iPhone will appear that will enable these products to be supported. But Apple has a solid track record of updating existing software and hardware well in advance of upcoming software / hardware offerings.